Josh Lueke was one of the players sent from Texas to Seattle in the Cliff Lee deal. You may recall that, at the time, there was some controversy about the Mariners’ due dilligence on Lueke, because it seems that he faced rape and sodomy charges in California last summer, pleaded no contest after the cops figured out he was lying his butt off to them about the incident and was sentenced to 40 days in the pokey.

At the time, Mariners president Chuck Armstrong said he was “not aware”of Leuke’s problems. Seems that’s not true, because Geoff Baker is reporting today that former Mariners pitching coach Rick Adair told Jack Zduriencik about Lueke’s troubles “well before the deal.” Check out Baker’s story for Adair’s comments on it. He’s unequivocal in saying he told them all about the guy and his legal problems.

Moreover, Zduriencik said at the time that the Rangers wouldn’t agree to take Leuke back as a result of the hubub, but Rangers’ GM Jon Daniels contradicts that, saying that Texas made a standing offer to do so and Seattle never availed themselves of it.

To sum up: either the Mariners’ President lied about not knowing of Leuke’s past, or else no one thought it was a good idea to tell the Mariners’ President information that he really should have known. And then Zduriencik lied about trying to send Leuke back. And then Zduriencik fired a guy who has now dropped the dime about all of this to Geoff Baker.

Is this just what happens to seemingly good people when they get hired by Armstrong? I mean, if he really was good, Jackie Z wouldn’t give in to the dark side, but I just wonder if anyone can hold to the straight and narrow in that environment. Or maybe Jack isn’t as cool as we thought.